{"id":6913,"date":"2018-04-13T20:39:21","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T00:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=6913"},"modified":"2018-04-21T13:53:08","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T17:53:08","slug":"big-apple-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/04\/13\/big-apple-circus\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: High-Wire Walkers, Trapeze Artists, Acrobats\u2014Big Apple Circus In Somerville"},"content":{"rendered":"

With high-wire walkers, trapeze artists and acrobats, the Big Apple Circus<\/a> performs under a \u201cBig Top\u201d tent at Somerville\u2019s Assembly Row through Sunday, May 6. Update:<\/strong> The show has been extended\u00a0through May 13.\u00a0(Tickets<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

This year marks the 40th anniversary year of the circus, which was founded in New York in 1977. It\u2019s known for being modeled after the traditional European \u201cone ring\u201d circus, which keeps the audience close to the action. The current edition has an intimate feeling\u2014and is centered on dazzling human skill.<\/p>\n

The circus almost folded in 2016 due to financial problems that it says began with the Great Recession of 2008. But it resumed performances last fall after being purchased by Big Top Works early in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Big Apple Circus’ high-wire act led by Nik Wallenda. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the headlining acts is high-wire walker Nik Wallenda, a ninth generation circus performer, who has \u201cwalked\u201d over Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon. His wife, Erendira Wallenda is on her mother\u2019s side an eighth generation performer of the Ashtons of Australia, the third oldest circus family in the world. On her father\u2019s side, she is the seventh generation of the Vazquez trapeze artists from Mexico, \u201cknown worldwide as the first to successfully complete the quadruple somersault.\u201d Last summer, she broke her husband\u2019s record for \u201ciron jaw\u201d by hanging from a helicopter, by her teeth, 300 feet above Niagara Falls.<\/p>\n

The lineup is full of family acts with long traditions in the circus. The Anastasini Brothers\u2014Guiliano, 27, and Fabio, 20\u2014are the ninth generation of a circus family and have been performing professionally together for 10 years. They learned their Risley act\u2014acrobatics in which one seemingly juggles the other with his feet\u2014from their father. And three Garcia brothers perform in three different acts. Dandino, the oldest, is in the roller-skating act. Gamal, the middle brother, is a juggler. And Ammed is a flyer in the trapeze act.<\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Clown<\/a>
Clown Brent McBeth flies over the ring during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Big<\/a>
Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Big<\/a>
Big Apple Circus Ringmaster Tyron \u201cTy\u201d McFarlan. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Animal<\/a>
Animal trainer Jenny Vidbel performs with 16 horses and ponies during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Flying Tunizianis trapeze troupe performs during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Flying Tunizianis trapeze troupe performs during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Flying Tunizianis trapeze troupe performs during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Flying Tunizianis trapeze troupe performs during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Flying Tunizianis trapeze troupe performs during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Animal<\/a>
Animal trainer Jenny Vidbel performs with 16 horses and ponies during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Married<\/a>
Married couple Dandino and Luciana Garcia perform their roller skating act during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Animal<\/a>
Animal trainer Jenny Vidbel performs with six rescue dogs during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Big Apple Circus’ high-wire act. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Big Apple Circus’ high-wire act featuring couple Nik and Erendira Wallenda. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Jan<\/a>
Jan Damm, who grew up in Maine, performs his Rola Bola (balance board) act during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Clown<\/a>
Clown Mr. Joel\u2019s\u2014Joel Jeske (center)\u2014attempt to get a Big Apple Circus audience member to soak his partner Brent McBeth doesn\u2019t work out in his favor. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Brothers<\/a>
Brothers Guiliano and Fabio Anastasini perform their Risley act\u2014acrobatics in which one seemingly juggles the other with his feet\u2014during the Big Apple Circus. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With high-wire walkers, trapeze artists and acrobats, the Big Apple Circus performs under a \u201cBig Top\u201d tent at Somerville\u2019s Assembly Row through Sunday, May 6. Update: The show has been extended\u00a0through May 13.\u00a0(Tickets.) This year marks the 40th anniversary year of the circus, which was founded in New York in 1977. It\u2019s known for being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,109,110],"tags":[337,26],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6913"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6972,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913\/revisions\/6972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}